Chickens make a variety of sounds, they don’t just cluck happily all day long, chickens will also purr, tuk tuk, scream, grumble and growl if they feel the need to.
If your bird starts sounding more hoarse than usual this article will help you figure out why and what to do
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Chicken sounds hoarse:
Your bird’s behavior will give you an idea of the health of the bird. This may be why your bird’s voice sounds more hoarse than usual:
The bird has been ‘talking too much’:
Chickens can be chatterboxes and because of this, they can, just as humans can, lose their voice.
If your bird has recently been clucking quite a lot, just going on and on, then the bird may wake up the next day having lost its voice or having its voice sound hoarse.
What to do:
A bird’s voice becoming hoarse because it was using it too much the day before is not too much of an issue. All you need to do is let the bird recover so it can get its voice back.
Isolating the bird, and giving it its own food and water while the bird recovers, is recommended. The bird should be back to normal in a few days.
You don’t need to rush out and get any medications for the bird, all the bird needs is time and space to recover.
If the bird is still acting how it normally does, if the bird is eating, drinking, and running around, then the bird will be fine, these are good signs.
Dusty coop:
Chickens living in a dusty coop can develop hoarse voices.
The dust in the coop will make its way into your bird’s throat and dry it out, this will cause the bird to develop a hoarse voice.
If a bird breathes dry air on a regular basis, and the dry air dries the bird’s throat, the bird’s voice may also become hoarse.
If your bird’s hoarse voice is non-progressing, and stays consistent, then you more than likely don’t have to worry. You should worry if the sound gets worse. A hoarse throat getting worse may be a sign that the bird has an infection.
What to do:
You’d need to moisten the bird’s throat and give the bird the opportunity to get its normal voice back. Water will help soothe and moisturize the bird’s throat and will get rid of the bird’s hoarse voice.
If anything else out of the ordinary comes up in your bird, ie: signs of respiratory infection as outlined in the next subject, then you’d have to look into the bird’s health to see what is going on
Respiratory issues:
Chickens can become sick with respiratory issues just as humans can. A hoarse voice is sometimes a symptom of a respiratory infection.
If your bird develops a hoarse voice and expresses symptoms like sneezing, producing bubbles at its eyes, having a decline in energy, and losing her appetite, then the bird may have a respiratory infection.
The bird may have come into contact with a bird who has a respiratory infection and become infected as a result.
A bird in this condition may also make odd respiratory sounds like whistling, choking, gurgling, or cawing
What to do:
If you think that your bird is suffering from a respiratory infection then you’d need to isolate the newly sick bird to keep it from infecting healthy birds.
You can isolate the bird in a cat carrier, a dog crate, or a chicken cage during its recovery.
Make sure that your bird has access to enough food and water while in the enclosure. Adding supplements and electrolytes to the bird’s diet will help with the bird’s recovery.
Taking the bird to the vet is recommended over trying to treat the bird yourself.
The vet will not only be able to diagnose the bird, and confirm which respiratory infection the bird has, but the vet will also be able to prescribe the correct medications (often antibiotics) to treat the infection.
The vet will also be able to accurately calculate how much of the medication the bird should be taking and for how long.
Giving your bird an antibiotic without consulting with your vet is not recommended. You may give the bird the incorrect antibiotic or you may give the bird the wrong dose. If this is done regularly this can lead to antibiotic resistance in the bird.
FAQ:
Why has my chicken lost its voice?
If your pet is trying to make a sound, but has lost its voice, then the animal may be ill with gapeworm or Aspergillosis
Gapewoms are worms that infect the animal’s respiratory system and cause voice loss. Aspergillosis is a fungus that can also cause voice loss in chickens
Why is my bird quiet all of a sudden?
If your bird suddenly stops making these odd sounds, if the animal is quiet all of a sudden the the animal may simply be stressed, depressed, or bored.
You may want to make the animal’s environment more entertaining or check the bird for depression
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Sick Chicken Not Eating Or Drinking, Chicken Acting Like Something Stuck In Its Throat, Chicken Acting Disoriented, Runt Chick Not Growing, Rooster Keeps Falling Over